to atとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

The origins of this phrase are uncertain, but it has been observed in print since at least 1766, and likely was around well before that. The potentially related phrase "to a tittle" is found in a 1607 play, The Woman Hater by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher ("I'll quote him to a tittle"). The T in the phrase to a T is likely the first letter of a word, with tittle being the most likely source.

• Other theories with little evidence point to golf tees, for their small size; this may have at least influenced the alternate form to a tee. Some speculate a relationship with T-square, a measuring device introduced around the turn of the century. Others claim the expression refers to the correct completion of the letter t by crossing it.
• In print from "Two Years Before the Mast" published in 1840, and, even then, using quotes, refers to the practice of squaring up a yardarm with a mast on a sailing ship such that it made a perpendicular T.

発音

前置詞句

to a T

1. (idiomatic) Precisely; exactly; perfectly; with great attention to detail.

   The announcement of the political endorsement was timed to a T.

   • 1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman:

     I hope your Honour will be soon well enough to get down to your country-seat, where,—as your Honour takes so much pleasure in fortification, we could manage this matter to a T.

   • 1766, George Colman; David Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage, act III, scene ii:

     Mrs. Heidel. My ſpurrit to a T.

   • 1868, Ann Sophia Stephens, Doubly False:

     That accounts for my having the dress, but it don't account for the piece that you left sticking to the rose-bush under Mrs. Lander's bed-room winder, which piece I took off that morning, and which piece I matched with the dress after you pitched it at me over them bannisters; it was an awful scragly tear, and it fitted to a T.

   • 1979, “Rapper's Delight”, performed by Sugarhill Gang:

     You see I'm six foot one and I'm tons of fun and I dress to a tee

動詞

toat (三人称単数 現在形 toats, 現在分詞 toating, 過去形および過去分詞形 toated)

1. Alternative spelling of tote

名詞

toat (複数形 toats)

1. The handle of a joiner's plane.

   (Can we find かつ add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)